Information

About Our Belts

Most of you will have had at least one bad experience with store-bought belts, whether bought in a department store, a discount store or on-line. The majority of belts sold through those venues are laminated and sewn belts, that is, a top layer of nice looking leather glued to a lesser-quality backing, and stitched along the edges. The problem with these belts is two-fold: firstly, the glue cannot hold the layers together over time; secondly, too often the thread used in the stitching is cotton, which cannot stand up to the tannins in the leather- it will inevitably be rotted away.

Our belts are made a different way- the old-fashioned way- using solid leather, no laminations. This is more expensive and doesn't lend itself to mass production methods and high profit margins, but it gives you a belt that will last. Five, ten, even fifteen years is not unheard of, and we guarantee that our belts will never (and I mean never !) tear, break or fail in any way. It is possible for the snaps to wear out over the years, the hand-dyed color may fade eventually, the edges may need a touch-up every few years (depending on how hard you wear your belt), but the leather itself will never fail and those other issues we will repair or replace free of charge if you pay the shipping.

We use two different leathers in our belts. Our dress belts and our embossed belts are made from vegetable tanned leather, sometimes called oak-tan leather. This is a process that soaks the hides in pits with tanning liquors made from the bark of certain trees. These barks contain tannin, a naturally occurring substance that preserves the leather, leaving hides that can be carved, embossed, molded and hand-dyed. This is the leather saddles are made from. All our veg-tan leather is from North American hides, tanned in the USA. Those two characteristics are important because they assure the highest strength and quality.

We also use "English Style" Bridle leather. This is a leather that is first vegetable-tanned, then stuffed or forced with waxes and oils to make the leather resistant to moisture and wear. This leather is primarily intended for tack and bridle uses, where it gets very hard wear in all weathers.